After the scanning was complete, the man forced down an urge to throw the scanner into the wall, and quickly opened the bag, unravelling rows of empty compartments where capsules of medicine were usually kept. He grabbed the last two and shoved one into the automatic syringe, then stabbed the woman in her thigh, administering the liquid. When the empty capsule flew out, ejected by the syringe, he shoved the second one in and stabbed the unconscious woman in her neck.
After this was done, he threw the syringe onto the bag and took a few moments, taking in the severity of the whole situation. He knew very well that the woman’s regeneration was already working hard on fixing every bit of damage dealt by both – the fall and his beating – but the thought that he caused some of these injuries hit him hard.
The man gritted his teeth again, looking at the woman, and took a deep breath, before collecting the medical supplies and returning to the kitchen, deciding on distracting himself from what he had done.
Hours passed, as Serena lay on his bed, recovering, until she slowly came to her senses again. She felt different, and at first didn’t understand what happened while she was knocked out, but then felt the soft fur that emanated a thick, heavy scent, and the warmth of a thin blanket thrown over her. She gave herself a bit of time before moving, but as soon as she tried to push herself up, she felt her body protesting with a sharp pain that hit her in the gut. A quiet groan escaped her mouth, as she gave in and lay back down, understanding that even if she does get up, she won’t be able to go anywhere in her current state.
Instead, she turned her head, still feeling the faint aching at the base of her skull, and looked around.
The cavern she was in was dimly lit by torches, which flickered and danced in the obvious airflow, which occurred inside due to the imperceptible cracks in the walls. The smoke must have been filtering out the same way – through the same cracks up in the ceiling, making it impossible to suffocate when inside. Serena heard the trickle of water somewhere near, but couldn’t see where it was, because it seemed to be hidden from her sight by a set of stones.
The woman tried hard to see any way of exiting the cavern, but didn’t see a single arch or pathway that could have been leading out. Closing her eyes and feeling herself helpless, she forced through the pain in her arm to reach up and feel her ear for the communication earpiece, but found it missing.
Through her scrambled thoughts she remembered the stranger who kept her chained up and understood that he must have taken the device from her when he captured her.
Serena tried to take a deeper breath, and felt her ribs aching, denying her of air. Closing her eyes, the woman thought if she could even do anything when her tormentor will return. She tried to feel around for any sort of weapon she could use, but the only thing she found caused her to frown. The woman couldn’t sit up to see what lay beside her, but she could feel the object being formed like a small brick – smooth sides and rounded edges, big enough for her to grab it. She couldn’t know if it was fragile or not, but decided that it was enough to at least withstand one hit she could land to her captor’s face. She felt a little better, knowing that she had a chance to at least try and fight back.
She must have drifted into sleep, because she came to her senses only when she felt someone sitting next to her on the bed and touching her neck, checking the pulse. The woman gripped the brick in her fingers, hoping she will have enough strength to make the blow hard enough to knock her captor out.
Serena slowly opened her eyes, seeing the man leaning in, and noticed his eyes widen in surprise. Without a single moment to waste she jerked her hand up, landing a perfect hit onto his temple, crashing the object in her hand exactly onto the point she wanted. The man flew off the bed, and Serena fell with him, hitting him again and feeling her strength already failing her. As she hit him for the third time, she heard him whisper:
“I yield…”
She didn’t hear what he said next, falling on top of him and her consciousness slipping away once more.
The man lay there for a few seconds, before gently embracing the woman with one arm.
“You’ve grown up strong, my little Scorpi.” he sighed, feeling proud and happy that the woman he found was, in fact, his ward in the distant past.
He waited for any sort of reply, but the woman remained silent, and he carefully raised her face, noting that she had passed out again.
“I’m so proud of you, Serena.” the man sighed and rolled her over to the side to get her back to bed.
When he was picking her up, he heard something fall and looked at what the woman had used to knock him down, surprised to see the resin-encased Scorpifly on the floor. Smirking at the fact Serena used this trinket to defend herself, he laid the woman down and sat next to her, picking up the preserved bug and looking at the thing with a smile on his lips.
“You really are a Scorpi, Serena…” the man chuckled, touching the woman’s shoulder. “You sting like hell.”
He stayed with her, until she finally opened her eyes again. Seeing the man there, she closed her eyes for a few moments, forcing down the painful feeling of defeat.
“Hi, Scorpi.” the man said quietly, watching her face. “Please don’t sting me again.”
Serena looked up at him and saw the deep gash on his temple – the one she left when landing her blow to his head. The man raised the bug for her to see and Serena frowned, recognizing the critter.
“The Golden Veluthian Scorpifly…” the man smiled. “Your present, Serena.”
The woman saw the blood stain on the resin encasing and looked at the man, trying hard to recognise him.
“I thought you were dead, Scorpi…” the man put the bug down next to her head. “I thought, you were killed during the Bima-Liss attack.”
“I survived.” Serena felt her voice being coarse and raspy.
The man reached out and touched her face, smiling:
“I’m so happy you did.”
Serena finally caught on to the dark eyes and the soft gaze, realizing that the man before her was the same man who taught her about balance, climbing and fighting when she was a child.
“Woofy?” she caught herself on calling him by the name she gave him a very long time ago, but correcting herself almost instantly. “Wolfin?”
She forced through her weakness and pain, pushing herself up. The man watched her struggling, but didn’t move to help, still weary of her being able to pull another trick.
“You remember me.” he said, seeing her lean over the rock behind her, wincing.
Serena lowered her gaze and studied the man attentively:
“I remember you being more scrawny.” she noted, looking up at his face again.
Wolfin cackled, admitting that he really did look differently all those years ago.
“It’s been a long time, Serena. A lot has changed.” he said. “You grew up strong, and you still sting like hell, my little Scorpi.”
Serena glanced at the preserved bug which was still stained by Wolfin’s blood.
“Though, now your sting is way more hefty.” the man chuckled, standing up and heading towards the kitchen area. “You need sustenance. Do you think you’ll be able to eat something and keep it down?”
The woman glanced around, thinking about her bag and wandering what the man did with her stuff while he kept her chained up.
“My bag…” she felt something cracking into place and bared her teeth, trying hard not to groan from the sharp shot of pain that run through her body.
A few long moments passed, when the pain subsided,